Because Jesus is Alive…Boldly I Approach (Music Monday)

I woke up today with anxiety tightening around my heart. Worries wound their way into my mind – worries that had no foundation in anything actually happening in my life right now. My stomach was cramped with dread and I could feel fear trying to take over the controls of my day.

Do you ever have days like this – days when the enemy tries to tamper with your life through your emotions, stirring your anxieties and fears?

So many times before, I have given into these feelings. I’ve become paralyzed by uncertainty. I’ve drawn back and chosen to hide my heart, to do nothing for fear of what might happen if I try to move forward.

Because Jesus is alive, the Holy Spirit is with us to be our comfort and our teacher who leads us back to the Truth we stand upon…so when our own legs are shaky, our own voice wobbly and misleading, we can hear and trust the One who never changes and never falters.

Because Jesus is alive, we have help on days like these – in every time of weakness, we have a Savior who is at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us. His death on the cross ripped down the veil that would hold us back from the Holy of Holies….so we can come boldly to God’s throne of mercy and receive help.

And what I have been learning is this – it is best to immediately throw our hands up to Him and call out for help when we need it. Sometimes we do this ‘I can be strong’ and ‘I can hold it together’ thing…and, friends, this is not at all what we are asked to do by our Father and our Savior. We are to be strong in the power of His might. We are to remember that all things hold together in Him. We must know that His grace is sufficient for us, for His power is made perfect in weakness…in other words, we are not meant to do this on our own. So at the first sign of a storm, at the first inkling of a struggle – that’s the time to come to that throne of grace.

Just in case anyone else ever faces this kind of inner-fight….with the help of the One who has overcome and made us more than conquerors – our battle is won by making this choice to shift our eyes away from the anxieties and onto Him. Jesus died and He rose again to win the battle for us – because we could not overcome without His love, His grace, and His power. The victory is ours through Him. Instead of magnifying the emotions and turning them into the focus of our day, giving them power over us, we choose to magnify – to extol and glorify – the God who promises to go with us through every moment of this life, to bring us Home into the next. When we begin to counter-act every worry with worship, our hearts are reminded of who He is – the Love that casts out fear, the Deliverer who has already broken our chains.